Martin Conway (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I echo the Cathaoirleach’s welcome to Jagoda, who is in the Public Gallery and has been doing fantastic work in my office. She is gaining very valuable experience as part of her transition year. I also welcome Ellen, who is with a great mentor in Ms Long. The budget announced yesterday was certainly a very interesting and positive offering. Many elements of it are welcome. A particularly welcome measure is the extension by €300 of the credit for the blind and visually impaired. That has not happened in many years. It will make a significant difference for the 400,000 people in this country who suffer sight loss. They have hidden added costs that people do not realise. Unfortunately, many of them cannot drive. Those living in rural parts of the country have to rely on taxis and friends to get to and from work. The measure announced yesterday is welcome. I would like it to have been increased by more and I would certainly like to see further increases going forward.

The free travel pass for partners of OAPs is very welcome. It defies logic that OAPs can travel for free but their carers or minders have to pay an exorbitant price for their rail ticket or fare. That leads me on to another point. We need to see universal charging for transport fares. It needs to be done per mile or kilometre and to be the same across all public transport. There is too much disparity. I live in County Clare. A person can travel from Ennistymon to Ennis on one publicly funded service for approximately €2.Bus Éireann is another publicly funded service and it costs €6.80. That does not make sense and it needs to change. I want to see a debate with the Minister for Transport on standardised fares in early course.

Regarding the 9% VAT rate that was called for across the tourism industry and the hospitality and restaurant industry, that was a mistake. I would have liked to have seen it happen, but it is not happening. We need to have an informed, mature engagement on VAT in general, including what is subject to VAT and what is not. We need to see some sort of a discussion. I wish to see a debate on value-added tax in this Chamber in the not-too-distant future.

Finally, I agree with my good friend and colleague, Senator Horkan, in condemning outright what is happening in Israel and throughout that region. We need a ceasefire now. Too many people have lost their lives, too many children are dying and too many children are being killed. It is not good enough. We can, as a world, do better. I would like the Minister for Foreign Affairs to redouble his efforts through our diplomatic channels both within the EU and the UN to try to do everything we can as a neutral country to try to facilitate dialogue and a ceasefire.